Daily driver. Do you improve or run into ground?

[xrmike]

(Modern and retro content)
I am a firm believer that any car has an area of improvement. I continually seek out for these and see what I can do to improve. Take my daily laguna as an example (Sorry modern).

It has a market value of approx £1000, but its still modern looking despite being 10 years old this year. I do 84 miles a day so I spend a lot of time in it, so it HAS to be a nice place to be IMO.
I am constantly thinking of what can be done to make it:
A. A nicer place to be
B. A better car to drive
C. Generally better specced
D. More reliable, though some power modifications may not help ;D

In fact I get a buzz of it, as it helps keep my mind focused.
I did the same with my old BMW


Now my girlfriend owns a late 2002 vectra with again a market value of approx £1000 (Bought for £400 with T&T with a leaking heater matrix, fixed with K seal over 20k miles ago for £9)

She washes it twice a year, the inside is like a horse stables and she wont spend a penny on it unless it NEEDS it. Like me she does high miles (over 100 a day!). The only things she likes about it is that:

A. Its safe
B. It does very high MPG (2.0 DTI)
C. Nothing else

She has no desire to spend time/money on it which does annoy me as it is a nice car, but that's how she is. She said she will run it into the ground

So, aside from my two examples, what are your thoughts on daily drivers? Do you improve, or run into the ground?

[maxlee]

I have a 106xd I use it every day as it costs me £20 a week to do 230 miles ows me nothing and parking dents etc I don't notice also with the dog in the car 2~3 times a day dosn't bother me at all.

so my daily driver is a shed I don't care about but do maintain oil filter every 6k etc long as its cheap to run works and is cheap to buy sub £350 then i'll drive it

keep the toys for the weekends
hrummm pics don't seam to be working?

off road ready disco


new toy ariving tuesday

(dog wont be seeing the inside of this)

mercs



all the toys do under 30mpg reason they are not used day to day lol

[chairchild]

The daily is an old 200 Bubble (96/97) and as I'm a student, it never gets any cash spent on it, due to me not HAVING any

Had it 2 years, never been washed, rarely tidy inside - but spending about £400 on a hybrid turbo to get it upto approx 200Bhp (standard 85bhp derv)




Needs a cambelt before that though - it snapped on me on tuesday

[thetechden]

My daily is a '97 Audi A4, it's done 240,000 miles, it's got different coloured body panels, odd rusty bits, half a body kit, a mish mash of full leather and cloth interior, it's lowered horrendously but I love it, and slowly but surely I'll get it looking half decent. It does awesome MPG and I enjoy driving it, it depends on your perspective really.

[Gem]

My daily was my e30 touring.. we improved that loads but it's off the road atm.

The e34, I couldn't really care about. The engine is looked after as it's a spare for my e30 but otherwise bumpers are buggered and it's ok.

[Copey]

my daily driver is a Sierra Sapphire GLSi...it gets looked after and has been modded, but not overly, just banded steels, gas shocks and stiffer springs and painted the greyed bumpers black and a cherry bomb on the outside, pair of cossie recaros up front along with a cossie steering wheel and a CD player n DAB radio

[mat91]

I run mine into the ground, run it down walls beat the curse word out of it and do about 30m a day then just fix it haha and i cant stop modifying the curse word out of it, may look like a trud but underneath is a different story currently thinking of some proper arches

[homeforsummer]

I'd like to say I'm happy to run a cheap daily into the ground. But I'd be lying.

Learned this the hard way by buying a cheap, slightly scruffy Rover 75. Thought "doesn't matter if it's scruffy, I probably won't own it for long anyway". But ended up liking it quite quickly, spent a bunch of money on it sorting things I wasn't happy with, and ended up losing loads of dosh on it when I sold. Shoulda just bought a good one in the first place...

Think I just have to accept I quite like cars in good nick, and I like keeping them that way...

[AtomicRooster]

In answer to the title question it depends what it is to be honest.

If its an old car i like then I'm always messing about with it trying to improve it. If its like my current daily which was only supposed to be a stop gap car then i will do as little as possible. Its beyond improvement and nearly worthless anyway so there wouldnt be much point.

[stealthstylz]

I've never had a nice car, they all get properly abused and rarely get cleaned inside or out. As long as the stereo and the fag lighter works and it's got a drinks holder i'm happy.

[Mercdan68]

I'm clean car obsessed and my daily merc is spotless, and cleaned every couple of days!
don't want to modify it as i ferry my family about in it, my granada has the mods this mercedes is my everyday driver and I just love the thing 250 turbodiesel with low miles and returning around 50mpg just great!

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Race it, bend it and mend it ;D

[ben711200]

People have time to do anything other than basic maintenance on a daily?

[loudandproud205]

I had a Laguna just like that, I was always seeing what lowering springs and other nice bits I could do.

They do look good lowered BTW.

[crazymonkey]

our 306 is a bit of a shed to say the least. dents everywhere, bits of trim missing and the front bumper is a mess. all we really care is that it drives fine (and only needed a brake pipe for the mot). at the end of the day it only cost £300 so its a case of use it and abuse it, don't be afraid to carry things that might scratch the paint its true we carried a really nice display cabinet and were more worried about damaging that than the car.

but we are planning on tidying it up a bit with a new mirror (first thing we did) front bumper, lick of paint and some new wheel trims which I just bought for it. but the way I see it, if it doesnt have a few cable ties holding bits on its not being abused enough haha. gets regular oil changes etc, brakes need doing - they're done. I like cars that we arent afraid to use, but it is an awesome feeling when you get a bit of a wreck and give it some tlc, the results can be amazing

[ChasR]

Mar 30, 2013 18:30:14 GMT homeforsummer said:

I'd like to say I'm happy to run a cheap daily into the ground. But I'd be lying.

Learned this the hard way by buying a cheap, slightly scruffy Rover 75. Thought "doesn't matter if it's scruffy, I probably won't own it for long anyway". But ended up liking it quite quickly, spent a bunch of money on it sorting things I wasn't happy with, and ended up losing loads of dosh on it when I sold. Shoulda just bought a good one in the first place...

Think I just have to accept I quite like cars in good nick, and I like keeping them that way...

With my work car I learned the lesson the hard way. Sure it is great to get a car going, but spending almost all of your time at work, and then almost all of your time fixing the car due to long term faults the car came with? No thanks.

I have hit this situation with my works daily (a 2007 Mondeo 1.8 on LPG). I bought it a year ago on 113,000 miles. It has now passed 207,000 miles. After the previous Mundaneos I thought I had a system which allowed the cars to run well (which parts to get, how to service them etc.). With the V6 in my signature which covered a similar amount of miles within the time it certainly seemed to be a sucessful formula.

This one (the 1.8) bit me hard this weekend though (head has eaten its valves). Do I scrap it now (Over that time period it has cost me £200 in repairs, the rest in servicing (which I have done myself), or buy something else (a minimum of £4k due to the regulations (has to be less than 5 years old when registered for the business, have 5 doors, a largish boot etc. (Mk4 Mondeo prices are still a little crazy IMO!)).

ATM I am looking to improve/keep. Time will tell if it was the right decision.

Classics? I tend to look to improve most of the time. OK they may not be extravagent ideas but by simply tweaking the base formula of a car. So far has not worked out too horrifically, but then there is always time yet (see above)...

Hmmm, time to sell one of the retro methinks :/.

[rld14]

Since Hurricane Sandy hit my most valuable car is my daily (sorta, come nice weather the M5, Ford and Lincoln will see lots of use).

Both of mine are Jags and I love them, even if one is on semi-permanent loan to my mother. For me I need a car with air conditioning, period. Plus Manhattan in true rush hour traffic is no place for the Lincoln or the Ford.

[xrmike]

Mar 30, 2013 22:48:43 GMT loudandproud205 said:

I had a Laguna just like that, I was always seeing what lowering springs and other nice bits I could do.

They do look good lowered BTW.

Funny you should say that, I seen one lowered and it looks sweet, the front wedge shape looks awesome when its on the floor! Got any bits left over?

[xrmike]

For some examples, l'll list what I have already done, and what I plan to do to my car. I want a safe and practical car, decent power and road holding and plenty of gadgets.

Current upgrades:
Custom remap with EGR delete (120bhp 270NM to 157 BHP 340NM)
K&N pannel filter with enlarged airbox entry
Tuning box on medium setting
Retro fitted heater washer jets and washer fluid pipe work
Clear side repeaters from facelift version
Matt silver painted mirror covers
Outside mirror puddle lights wired to convenience module
Bright white side light bulbs to match Xenon lights

Next planned upgrades:
Pioneer stereo with wheel well active sub (to keep boot space) to replace standard 4x15Watt stereo (I like quality stereo systems)
35-40MM lowering springs (may source better shocks and ARB's)
Privacy glass for rear
Twin exhaust pipes as per recent model layout

After the above, I will have a complete car with a package to suit me.

[bazzateer]

Thought I'd run my £700 Passat into the ground afetr a year, had it 2 years now and it flew through the MoT Test so another 12 months. Only spend money on it when it needs it. Would be nice to repair a couple of dents etc and sit it on alloys but why bother?